Shuffled back and forth, From one home to another
Fed and held, but kept at a distance from their love
They did care for him. They did love him, a little
They wanted him to have a family
Just not theirs�

The new ones brought him Batman.
Eighteen inches tall, with a cape of midnight
Bat wings that folded back onto themselves
A superhero who personified his dreams of,
Belonging�

The new ones drove away leaving promises to hold
But how is he to know how to believe?
He�s heard it all before, as he�s left there at the door
His giant eyes grew moist with unshed tears�

Come back?

Observed by the adults, he sits alone
Beautiful and sheltered in the room
His gestures misinterpreted, as cute
So sweet, innocent, precocious

They do not understand

His heart lies fractured on the ground
Laying at his feet, its shards glimmer in the night
As the car has passed from view
He turns, towing the shattered bits behind him
As he crawls into a darkened space to nurse his wounds

Come back?

Soon his heart may pass ability of restoration
Soon he will stop asking�

Come back?

As they drove away,
she knew
His pain had become hers
Though incapable of understanding from his view
It was an intellectual choice
Born of desire, and sympathy,
and hope

How many times, she asked, has he been left?
If we don�t return, where will he end?
Her heartstrings reverberate with echoes of his call
Pulling, tugging, wrenching at her soul

She would go back�

How long before they let her take him home?
How long before he learns to trust?
How long before he�ll willingly seek comfort
held within her embrace?

It didn�t matter.
She will go back�

Until she never has to leave him there again.

It was the day!
The sun was shining, bright with possibilities
With hope, with emotion, with aspiration, with dreams
fulfilled�

He was going home!

Happiness rose encumbered with concern
Apprehension twisting, caught with unease
Joyful moments, poignant, tearing at his soul
Fearfully, he follows the new ones to their home

His home
His place
His family
He belongs
and
His face crumpled with divided loyalties and wept

They came back...

I'm looking back on memories and tryingt o record them in written form...
We met Dalton when he was 3yrs 8mos. He moved in with us permanently two months later...

His mannerism of asking everyone he met to come back, seemed sweet, his fostermother especially loved seeing it. In retrospect, this mannerism was, in fact, a bittersweet expression of his longing to belong. He has never done it again since he moved in with us all those yeas ago!